Inquiry Into F.B.I. Raid That Killed Cleric

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into an F.B.I. raid near Detroit last fall that left a Muslim prayer leader dead with 21 gunshot wounds, officials said Tuesday.

The prayer leader, Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, had been described in court papers as a separatist Muslim intent on overthrowing the United States government, and as someone whom counterterrorism agents had been following for years.

Mr. Abdullah, however, had not been charged with a crime when he was killed in a shootout in late October inside a warehouse where he stored goods in Dearborn, Mich. F.B.I. agents said that they had intended to arrest him on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and the illegal possession of firearms, but said that he had opened fire, killing an F.B.I. dog.

The shooting prompted an outcry from Mr. Abdullah’s family and peers, who accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation of using heavy-handed tactics against a sharp-tongued but peaceful man. On Monday, the Wayne County medical examiner’s office released its autopsy report, which showed that the death was caused by multiple gunshot wounds — including one in the back. Since then, calls have increased for an independent investigation by the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

“It just brought back all the horror they already lived through and solidified their belief that the government really used excessive force in this particular matter,” said Nabih Ayad, a lawyer representing Mr. Abdullah’s family.

The F.B.I. has conducted a review, but its finding has not been made public. A spokesman for the Justice Department, Alejandro Miyar, said the department had received the F.B.I.'s internal report and was “now conducting an independent review of the shooting.”

The autopsy’s findings left largely unexplained a number of lacerations on Mr. Abdullah’s hands and face. Mr. Ayad and other Muslim leaders are planning to hire an independent pathologist to review the report. They are hoping for more clarity about the sequence of events and to learn whether the dog might have attacked Mr. Abdullah.

“I was stunned that he was shot in the back,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Mr. Walid and others, including Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, are also calling for a broader review on the use of confidential informants inside places of worship, particularly mosques.

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